I've been back for 10 days following my pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine. Let the unpacking begin! And I don't mean my luggage. I mean unpacking the experience: wondering what it means to have been in Galilee, Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights; remembering the rhythm of our days that included experience, reflection, prayer, community building, sharing every meal with 21 clergy colleagues from around the country.
Photos are being shared on Facebook (what would Chaucer's pilgrims have done with that?), emails coming in from Memphis, Austin, Richmond, Nashville, Chicago, asking of the trip the same questions I am. Questions like "how is actually seeing the landscape already impacting the way I read Scripture?" or "how can I make sure I can maintain the space I was able to create for prayer time, conversation, sharing a meal with friends now that I'm back to my busy life?" or "how might I be able to go back?"
Pilgrimage is an experience shared by the faithful of all the world's religions. On my flight from Washington, DC to Frankfurt, I sat next to an older Egyptian couple who had been in the states for 25 years. They asked what I was up to and I said, "I'm going on Pilgrimage to Galilee and Jerusalem." The wife got quiet for a minute, grabbed her husband's hand and said, "We'll never forget our pilgrimage. To Mecca," she added.
Throughout the trip, when I saw families of Orthodox Jews rushing into the old city of Jerusalem to their prayers on Friday evening, or Muslim women sitting outside the Dome of the Rock, or the busload after busload of Christians from around the world pouring into Jerusalem or milling around a small church in Galilee, or around the breakfast table with my fellow pilgrims, I had such a strong sense of God's presence in the world and in my own life.
I have been changed by my pilgrimage and I'm grateful to all who made it possible. I'll be unpacking it for a very long time.
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